Liquid sampling device



July 16, 1963 Filed April 29. 1960 R. w. BROWN ETAL 3,097,532

LIQUID SAMPLING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 i 7 Fa/nsafi 14 Era W/7 /Z 7/ W////a/77 4 00A ey 4 5 INVENTORJ ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,097,532 LIQUID SAMPLING DEVICE Robinson W. Brown and Wiliiam E. Oakey, San Antonio, Tex., assignors to W. H. Curtin and Company, Houston, Tex., a corporation of Texas Filed Apr. 29, 1969, Ser. No. 25,635 Claims. (Cl. 713-4254) This invention relates to sampling devices for liquids, such as petroleum, the device being commonly referred to as an Oil Thief.

In the operation of gaging oil storage tanks, the gager is customarily furnished with a device known as an Oil Thief. The purpose of this device is to allow the gager to take samples either near the tank bottom or at some distance above the bottom in the body of the fluid in the tanks. Heretofore, devices for this purpose have ordinarily had incorporated in them a valve and seat so arranged that the valve is pivoted to rotate in a plane at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the Oil Thief barrel. Such designs have certain inherent disadvantages, the most outstanding of which are the excessive wear due to the valve scraping across the seat and the fact that as the valve approaches its sealing position, it must be cammed upwardly toward the seat with the cam having a very shallow angle of approach. This results in the valve of all such designs sticking on the seats so that opening of the valve by hand is very difficult and requires an extensive effort which is most objectionable under the conditions at which sampling is commonly conducted.

It is a principal object of this invention to provide an Oil Thief having a valve mechanism which, although it has suflicient force on the seat to form a positive liquidtight seal, will not stick and will, therefore, be easy to reset by hand.

It is another object of this invention to provide an Oil Thief which will afford a positive leak proof seal of the valve on its seat.

It is a further object of this invention to provide means for accurately controlling the distance from the bottom at which samples can be taken and varying this distance to any desired extent.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an Oil Theif mechanism which cannot he accidentally tripped above the point at which it has been set to trip.

A still further object of this invention is to provide an Oil Thief mechanism in which the sensitivity of the tripping mechanism can be easily and quickly adjusted.

It s also an object of this invention to provide an Oil Thief valve and seat arrangement including a resilient replaceable seat which will not roll nor become displaced in use.

It is still a further object of this invention to provide an Oil Thief having a minimum number of parts which are inexpensive to manufacture and easy to maintain.

Other and more specific objects and advantages of this invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing which illustrates a useful embodiment in accordance with this invention.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal elevational side view, some of the parts being in section, of the Oil Thief in accordance with an embodiment of this invention, the valve being shown in open position;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1, showing the valve in closed position;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view taken generally at right angles to the view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of the lower portion of the device looking in the direction of line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a plan view looking downwardly at the "ice upper end of the structure along line 55 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 3.

Referring to the drawing, the Oil Thief comprises a generally cylindrical barrel 10 having its ends securely clamped between a head 11 and a base 12 which are connected together by means of four elongate cap screw tie rods 13 extending between the head and the base in uniformly spaced arrangement about the exterior of the barrel. As illustrated, the rods are arranged about the barrel at points corresponding generally to the corners of a square, but may be arranged in some other suitable configuration. The rods 13, which have the heads 14, extend slidably through perforations 15 in the head and screw into registering internally threaded sockets 16 in base 12. Head 11, base 12 and the tie rods 13 constitute an enclosure for barrel 10. A gasket 17 is arranged between the lower end of barrel 10' and base 12 to form a fluid-tight seal therebetween, and a similar gasket (not shown) may be inserted between the upper end of the barrel and head 11. Head 11 and base 12- are provided with large diameter ports 18 and 19, respectively, coaxial with barrel 10 and approximately the same in diameter as the bore of barrel 10. Head 11 is provided on opposite sides thereof with upstanding perforate ears 2020 for the reception of the ends of a spring bail 21 to which a lowering line or chain C may be secured.

The lower end of base 12 is provided in its lower face with an annular ring groove 22 of generally dove-tail shape in which is seated a correspondingly shaped ring seal 23 constructed of oil-resistant rubber or the like, and molded to a non-resilient backing ring 23a constructed of brass, aluminum or the like. Seal 23 projects slightly from groove 22 and constitutes an annular valve seat surrounding port 19. The valve seat is adapted to be engaged by a generally circular valve 24 having an upper flat seat-engaging surface 24a to form a fluid-tight closure for opening 19, as will be subsequently described.

A valve actuating lever 25 of generally L.-shape, comprising an elongate vertical arm 26 and a shorter transverse arm 26a is arranged at one side of the enclosure between a pair of the rods 13, the upper end of arm 26 being pivotally mounted in the center of a bracket 27 which extends between the rods. Bracket 27 is provided at its opposite ends with ears 28 having vertical openings 28a therethrough, through which the rods 13 extend to provide a longitudinally slidable mounting for the bracket on the rods. Ears 28 are provided with setscrews 29 which extend into the respective ears 28 into openings 28a to engage the rods. By this arrangement, the bracket is adjustable longitudinally along the enclosure for the barrel. The upper end of arm 26 is mounted on a shaft 30, the ends of which are journal-led in a pair of transversely spaced bearing lugs 31 which project outwardly from bracket 27. A substantial portion of arm 26 intermediate its ends is T-shaped in cross-section to increase its stiffness and resistance to bending. The T-shaped section provides flanges 3232 on opposite sides of a web 33. Coil springs 3434 are mounted about shaft 30 on opposite sides of arm 26 between the latter and the adjacent bearing lugs 31. One end of each spring bears against the outer face of bracket 27 and the opposite end of the spring is bent toward web 33 to provide portions 36 which extend over, and bear against, the outer faces of the related flanges 32. With this arrangement, the springs 34 are operable to resiliently bias arm 26 toward barrel 10.

Transverse arm 26a is arranged at an angle of approximately with respect to the longitudinal axis of arm 26. Transverse arm 26a carries valve 24 disposed in "a horizontal position on top thereof to present upper face 24a for movement toward and away from seat 23 as will be described hereinafter. Valve 24 is rockably mounted on a pivot 40 which extends transversely of arm 26a at a point spaced a short distance from the outer end of the arm. Pivot 40 is journalled in a pair of Spaced pivot lugs 41 projecting from the lower face of valve 24. The extent of the rocking movement of valve 2. relative to arm 26a in one direction is limited by outer ,end portion 42 of arm 26a and in the other direction by an abutment 43 carried on the upper face of arm 26a ,on the opposite side of pivot 40 from end 42 of the arm. A trip lug 44 projects upwardly .from the upper face of valve 24, for purposes to be subsequently described.

A tripping frame 50 of generally rectangular shape is positioned concentrically about the lower end of the enclosure outside the periphery thereof as defined by the four rods 13. Frame 50 is pivotally secured by means of a hinge 51 to base 12 at one side which is at 90 relative to the side facing lever 25. Hinge 51 includes .a bracket 52 which is integral with base 12 and is bifurcated at its upper end to receive a hinge lug 54 carried by tripping frame 50. In vertical alignment and below hinge 51 is a drain port 53a extending through the wall ofbase member 12 and closed by a threaded plug 53. Hinge lug 54 is pivotally connected to the hinge bracket by means of the pivot shaft 55. Thus, frame 50 may rock vertically about shaft 55. It will be understood that an amount of clearance is provided between the interior of frame 50 and the perimeter of the enclosure, as defined by the rods 13, to permit a small amount of vertical rocking movement of the frame relative to the rods. Mounted on the side of trip frame 50 facing lever 25 is a trip dog 56 which projects downwardly into the path of movement of trip lug 44 as the valve 24 moves toward and away from seat 23. Dog 56 is rigidly secured to the trip frame and is adapted to be engaged by trip lug 44 when arm 25 is pulled back away from the barrel enclosure sufliciently to move valve 24 to its open position relative to port U in the base, as best seen in FIG. 1. Engagement of dog 56 with trip lug 44, as shown, will hold valve 24 in the open position against the pressure of springs 34, which, of course, tend to urge the valve to its inward or closed position on seat 23.

To release dog 56 from its engagement with trip lug 44 and thereby release the valve for movement to the closed position under the biasing force of springs 34, trip frame 50 must be lifted sufliciently to move dog 56 out of the path of movement of lug 44. The pivoted arrangement provided by hinge 51 permits this lifting movement to occur. This lifting movement for tripping the latch formed by dog 56 and trip lug 44 is effected by means of a vertically disposed trip rod 60 slidably mounted at the side of the barrel enclosure opposite hinge 51. I-Iead 11 is provided on the side of the enclosure opposite hinge 51 with a laterally extending ear 61. Base 12 and trip frame 50 are provided with laterally extending flanges 62 and 63, respectively, also on the side of the enclosure opposite hinge 51. Bar 61 and flanges 62 and 63 are provided with registering openings 64, 65 and 66, respectively, through which the trip rod 60 slidably extends. Opening 66 (FIG. 6) is elongated slightly along an axis parallel to the plane of movement of the trip frame to allow the desired degree of rocking movement of the latter about pivot shaft 55 without binding on the trip rod.

The length of trip rod 60 is made slightly greater than the distance between head 11 and base 12 so that when inserted through openings 64 and 65 in these members, the opposite ends of the trip rod will project short distances above and below these members. The lower end of the trip rod 60 extends through a tubular boss 70 which projects downwardly from the lower face of flange 62. The trip rod 60 is secured against being pulled upwardly out, of base 1. by means of a cotter to take the sample.

key 71 which is mounted transversely in the lower end of the trip rod below boss 70. A trip collar 72 is mounted on the portion of'the trip rod which extends between flanges 62 and 63 and is adjustably secured to the rod by means of a thumb screw 73. Trip collar 72 is positioned on rod 6t beneath flange 63 so that upward movement of the trip rod will elevate the trip frame to thereby raise trip dog 56 out of engagement with trip lug 44 and release valve 24- for movement to the port-closing position on seat 23.

In order to adjust the sensitivity of tripping of the device, means may be provided for applying an adjustable resilient biasing force to the trip frame. This means, as best seen in FIG. 4, includes a bolt 75 which extends upwardly from flange 62 through an opening 76 in flange 63, opening 76 being enlarged or elongated like opening 66 to accommodate the necessary rocking movement of flange 63. The upper end of the bolt which projects above flange 63 is threaded to receive adjusting nuts 77. A coil spring 78 is mounted in compression about the bolt between nuts 77 and flange 63 to thereby resiliently bias the tripping frame downwardly against trip collar 72. The downward force thus exerted against the tripping frame may be adjusted by adjusting the nuts 77 relative to spring 78.

Barrel 10 is preferably constructed of transparent plastic material and provided with a graduated scale 79 on the wall thereof to provide means for measuring the contents of the barrel. A pet cock 80 may also be installed in the barrel at a suitable point for draining its contents.

Barrel 10 may, if desired, be constructed of a suitable non-sparking metal, such as aluminum, brass, copper or the like. All of the other parts of the enclosure will preferably be made of similar non-sparking metals, plastics or combinations thereof.

Base 12 may be provided with two or more angular ly spaced, downwardly projecting feet 8181 which, together with the lower end of trip rod 60, when the latter is in its uppermost position (FIG. 3), will provide a level footing for supporting the sampling device in upright position on a flat surface.

The upper end of head 11 may be suitably formed to provide a pouring spout 82.

In operation, lever 25 is pulled away from the barrel, as shown in FIG. 1, to pull valve 24 to the port-opening position and to position trip lug 44 outside dog 56. The latter, both by gravity and by the pressure of spring 78, will drop down in front of lug 44, so that when lever 25 is released dog 56 will be engaged by lug 44, thereby holding the valve in the open position. As noted previously, the latch thus holding the valve may be tripped by elevating trip rod 6d in order to lift dog 56 out of engagement with lug 44. Trip rod 60 may be elevated in one of two ways: one, by causing the lower end of the trip rod to strike the bottom of the tank or other receptacle from which the sample is to be taken; or second, by inertial force :on the sampling device produced by jerking the lowering line so as to produce upward movement of the trip rod relative to the barrel enclosure.

For effecting the first of these methods of operation, illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, trip rod 60 is moved downwardly through its guides in order that its lower end may project below the lower end of barrel 10 to whatever distance above the bottom of the tank it may be desired This downward movement is effected by releasing thumb screw 73, moving rod 60 to the desired position and then i e-tightening the thumb screw. With the valve in open position the Thief may be lowered through the body of fluid to be sampled until the lower end of the trip rod strikes the bottom of the tank. Barrel 10 will, of course, be filled with the liquid in which it is immersed at the moment of impact of the rod with the tank bottom. This impact, transmitted through trip collar 72 to flange 63, will force trip frame 50 upwardly against the force of spring 78, releasing dog 56, whereupon valve 24 will move rapidly into port-closing position under the force of springs 34. In this method of operation, both ends of bail 21 will be connected to ears 20-20. With this arrangement the device may be set to trip at any elevation above the bottom which is not greater than the length of the trip rod. The latter may be marked with graduations, not shown, to indicate the elevation at which the sample is taken.

In the second method of operation, the apparatus is rearranged slightly as shown particularly in FIGS. 3, 5 and 6. The only change in the apparatus is that trip rod 60 is drawn upwardly sufficiently to provide a small amount of clearance between the lower end of boss 70 and cotter key 7-1, as shown in broken lines in FIG. 3, and one end of bail 21 is hooked through a hole 85 in the upper end of the rod. With the trip rod in this position, trip collar 72 is set a short distance below flange 63 so as to be out of contact therewith when dog 56 is in latching engagement with trip lug 44. With valve 24 thus held in the open position, the device will be lowered to any desired depth in the liquid to be sampled. As the device is being lowered into the tank the trip collar 72 will be in contact with the lower side of the flange 63. In this position, the trip frame 50 will be prevented from pivoting by the force of the spring 78 in combination with the friction between the coacting parts 56 and 44. A quick upward jerk on the lowering chain C acting in conjunction with the inertia of the device will overcome the force of the spring 78 and the frictional force between the parts 56 and 44, thus causing the trip frame to pivot upwardly sufiiciently to lift the dog 56 out of latching engagement with lug 44 and allow valve 24 to swing to its closed position.

As may be seen by the dotted arc in FIG. 1, the valve pivot point 40 will move on an arc whose center is the center of the shaft 30. All points on the valve 24 will also move on arcs whose centers are the center of the shaft 30. Therefore, it may be seen that as the valve approaches its closed position it has a combined horizontal and upward movement. This combined movement on an arc serves the dual purpose of preventing the valve from scraping horizontally across the resilient sealing member 23 as well as multiplying the kinetic energy of the valve and lever arm 25 plus the force of the springs 34 in the ratio of the cotangent of the approach angle of the valve toward the seat. Therefore, it is clear that combining the kinetic energy of the valve and lever arm 25 with the spring force of the springs 34 and multiplying these by the cotangent of the approach angle a relatively light spring force will serve to eifect considerable upward force between the valve 24 and sealing member 23 and thus effect a fluid tight seal.

Elimination of the scraping or dragging action of the valve on the seat permits recocking of the valve with a minimum amount of eifort.

The final closing position of the valve 24 with respect to the seal 23 may be adjusted by adjusting the position of bracket 27 on rods 13. This offers an advantage that after considerable use and subsequent wear the valve may be readily recentered in its closed position on the seal 23. This may be readily effected by loosening set screws 29 and tapping against bracket 27 in the direction necessary to produce the desired adjustment and then re-tightening the set screws.

It will be understood the various alterations and changes may be made in the details of the illustrative embodiment within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of this invention.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A liquid sampling device, comprising, a tubular barrel, an enclosure for the barrel including head and base members secured respectively against the upper and lower ends of the barrel, said base member having a port therein coaxial with the barrel, means carried by the lower end face of the base member defining an annular valve seat about said port, said last-mentioned means comprising an annular retaining groove in said lower end face, a resilient seal ring seated in said groove, said sealing ring comprising an annular body of a resilient material and a supporting ring of relatively rigid material bonded to said resilient material, means for controlling said port, comprising, a valve having a generally disk shape, an actuating lever for said valve, said lever being generally L-shaped and comprising a single vertical arm and a single horizontal arm, said valve being rockably supported in horizontal position on top of the horizontal arm, means on the horizontal arm defining longitudinally spaced abutments limiting the extent of rocking movement of said valve, said vertical arm being pivotally connected to a side of said enclosure at a point. intermediate the head and base members to swing in a vertical plane toward and away from said barrel whereby to swing said valve toward and away from port-closing position on said seat, resilient means biasing the actuating lever toward the port-closing position of the valve, releasable Ilatch means arranged between the enclosure and the valve for holding the valve in the port-opening position, and trip means movably mounted on the enclosure operable in response to longitudinal movement relative to the enclosure to release the latch means.

2. A liquid sampling device, comprising, a tubular barrel, an enclosure for the barrel including head and base members secured respectively against the upper and lower ends of the barrel, said base member having a port therein coaxial with the barrel, means can-led by the lower end face of the base member defining an annular valve seat about said port, said valve seat comprising an annular retaining groove in said lower end face, an annular sealing member seated in said groove, said sealing member comprising an annular body of a resilient material and a support ring of relatively rigid material bonded to said resilient material, means for controlling said port comprising a valve having a generally disk shape and an actuating lever for said valve, said lever being generally L-shaped and comprising a vertical arm and a horizontal arm, said valve being rockably supported in horizontal position on the horizontal arm, said vertical arm being pivotally connected to a side of said enclosure at a point intermediate the head and base members to swing in a vertical plane toward and away from said barrel whereby to swing the horizontal arm carrying said valve toward and away from port-closing position on said seat, resilient means biasing the actuating lever toward the port-closing position of the valve, releasable latch means for holding the valve in the port-opening position, said latch means comprising a trip lug projecting upwardly from the valve and movable therewith, a trip frame concentrically disposed about the enclosure adjacent the base member and having pivoted connection at one side thereof to the enclosure, a trip dog carried on the trip frame to project downwardly therefrom into the path of movement of said trip lug and to be engageab le therewith when the valve is disposed laterally outwardly relative to the port to thereby hold the valve in the port-opening position, a trip rod slidably mounted on the enclosure in engagement with the trip frame and oper- 'able in response to longitudinal movement of the trip rod relative to the enclosure to release the trip dog from its holding engagement -with the trip lug whereby to release the actuating lever for inward movement to thereby move the valve to the port-closing position.

3. A liquid sampling device according to claim 2 wherein said trip rod is adjustably positionable on the enclosure to vary the distance between its lower end and the base member.

4. A liquid sampling device according to claim 2 wherein said head member carries a pair of spaced apart 7 perfo rate lugs, and a bail having its opposite ends receivable in said lugs.

5. A liquid sampling device a c cording to claim 4 wherein the upper end of the trip rod has means for securing ne end of said bail thereto, whereby said bail may be selectively secured to both said lugs, or to one of said lugs and to sai trip ra Riefenences' 'Gited invithe file of ;this patient UNITED STAT-ES PATENTS Weymouthv Feb. 19, H aggstromhfl .-s Mar. 11, La Ohapelle i Oct. 14, Schlueter eLaI. Nov. 9, Blake, Nov. 15, 

1. A LIQUID SAMPLING DEVICE, COMPRISING, A TUBULAR BARREL, AN ENCLOSURE FOR THE BARREL INCLUDING HEAD AND BASE MEMBERS SECURED RESPECTIVELY AGAINST THE UPPER AND LOWER ENDS OF THE BARREL, SAID BASE MEMBER HAVING A PORT THEREIN COAXIAL WITH THE BARREL, MEANS CARRIED BY THE LOWER END FACE OF THE BASE MEMBER DEFINING AN ANNULAR VALVE SEAT ABOUT SAID PORT, SAID LAST-MENTIONED MEANS COMPRISING AN ANNULAR RETAINIMG GROOVE IN SAID LOWER END FACE, A RESILIENT SEAL RING SEATED IN SAID GROOVE, SAID SEALING RING COMPRISING AN ANNULAR BODY OF A RESILIENT MATERIAL AND A SUPPORTING RING OF RELATIVELY RIGID MATERIAL BONDED TO SAID RESILIENT MATERIAL, MEANS FOR CONTROLLING SAID PORT, COMPRISING, A VALVE HAVING A GENERALLY DISK SHAPE, AN ACTUATING LEVER FOR SAID VALVE, SAID LEVER BEING GENERALLY L-SHAPED AND COMPRISING A SINGLE VERTICAL ARM AND A SINGLE HORIZONTAL ARM, SAID VALVE BEING ROCKABLY SUPPORTED IN HORIZONTAL POSITION ON TOP OF THE HORIZONTAL ARM, MEANS ON THE HORIZONTAL ARM DEFINING LONGITUDINALLY SPACED ABUTMENTS LIMITING THE EXTENT OF ROCKING MOVEMENT OF SAID VALVE, SAID VERTICAL ARM VEING PIVOTALLY CONNECTED TO A SIDE OF SAID ENCLOSURE AT A POINT INTERMEDIATE THE HEAD AND BASE MEMBERS TO SWING IN A VERTICAL PLANE TOWARD AND AWAY FROM SAID BARREL WHEREBY TO SWING SAID VALVE TOWARD AND AWAY FROM PORT-CLOSING POSITION ON SAID SEAT, RESILIENT MEANS BIASING THE ACTUATING LEVER TOWARD THE PORT-CLOSING POSITION OF THE VALVE, RELEASABLE LATCH MEANS ARRANGED BETWEEN THE ENCLOSURE AND THE VALVE FOR HOLDING THE VALVE IN THE PORT-OPENING POSITION, AND TRIP MEANS MOVABLY MOUNTED ON THE ENCLOSURE OPERABLE IN RESPONSE TO LONGITUDINAL MOVEMENT RELATIVE TO THE ENCLOSURE TO RELEASE THE LATCH MEANS. 